BellSouth Looks to Make A Quick Recovery From Katrina

The long-term impact of Hurricane Katrina on most telecom companies is expected to be minimal. Moreover, some companies are expected to benefit from the storm. Equipment vendor Alcatel, for instance, saw its shares rise more than $1 to the $12.75 range in the days following the disaster, partly on investor sentiment that the company would be providing gear to the affected phone companies. And even BellSouth may see some benefit down the road from sales to the army of relief workers setting up camp in the Gulf Coast region and from the high marks the company has received for the fast pace of its recovery.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com and Almar Latour almar.latour@wsj.com]
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